Saigo Takamori

Saigo Takamori (23 January 1828-24 September 1877) was the Inspector-General of the Imperial Japanese Army from 1864. He was originally a general of the Satsuma Domain at the time of the Boshin War, but rose to command the vanguard of the Japanese Empire when Emperor Komei felt confident that the Satsuma should represent the Imperial faction in battle. Proving himself in the defeat of Tokugawa Shogunate forces in Kyushu in 1864, he went on to command the Satsuma armies in Honshu and won the war for the Emperor. However, he led a rebellion in 1877 after his plan for an invasion of the Choson Empire was rejected, and he killed himsel as the Satsuma Rebellion was quelled.

Biography
Saigo Takamori was born on 23 January 1828 in Kagoshima, part of the Satsuma Domain (located on the Japanese island of Kyushu). He was initially recruited as a diplomat in 1854 to reconcile differences between the Tokugawa Shogunate and Emperor Komei, and was banished twice due to his resistance to foreign trade policies (during the Ansei Purge of 1858-1860). In 1864 he was pardoned, and became the commander of Satsuma Domain forces in Kyoto before returning to the domain's lands in Kyushu.

As a military man, he was the one expected by Prince Shimazu Hisamitsu to lead the Satsuma Army into battle when the Boshin War broke out between clans supporting the Emperor and clans supporting the shogunate. His first battle took place in the winter of early 1864, when his 8,800-strong army invaded Hyuga Province, the lands of the rival Nobeoka Domain. The Nobeoka army attacked him while his men encamped, suffering from winter attrition, but Takamori maneuvered his men so that he could crush the Nobeoka attack on his left flank. The Battle of Hyuga Fields was the first sign that he would become a genius military commander.

Having repulsed the Nobeoka army, Saigo followed up this success by plunging his army into Hyuga and laying siege to the capital of Saito. The Nobeoka army was encircled in the city, and with assistance from naval gunfire, Saigo defeated two escape attempts. When the Nobeoka failed to make a third attack, Saigo personally led a final strike against the fortifications and conquered the city. Hyuga Province fell to the Imperial forces, and Saigo wiped out the Nobeoka Domain.

His first major challenge came shortly after his first major success. The Oka Domain of northern Kyushu and southern Honshu was a bulwark against Imperial expansion into Honshu, so Saigo would have to lead his army against several provinces and cities, not to mention the many Oka armies. Saigo trained his forces with help from British military advisor Seth Patrick and captured the castle of Funai in Bungo Province, and proceeded to defeat an Oka army under Utsonomiya Nobutsuna that attmepted to recapture the castle.